William King Weatherill of Guisborough: a sad story

Far off in Sydney, Australia, Richard Ord Todd and his aunt Isabella had photographs of her nephew William King Weatherill of Guisborough and his children.

(William was the brother of Annie Weatherill, whose diary I posted on 1 December 2012.)

William King Weatherill was born on 22 November 1844. These photos, taken in Harrogate, show him apparently in the prime of life and with everything before him.

William King Weatherill (1844-77)

He was married to Hannah Maria Pickersgill and they had two children.

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Here is his son Thomas, and below, his daughter Mary. 

But William had known a good deal of sadness.

The Ords of Guisborough

Richard Ord Toddwas born in Guisborough.  His mother was Elizabeth Mary Poynter, the daughter of John Poynter and Ann Ord.  Here she is, with her husband Edward:

Edward and Elizabeth Todd

So the Revd Richard Ord Todd of Sydney was connected to the Ords of Guisborough, and the family photographs in Australia include pictures of the Ords.

The family is best remembered now for its most famous member, John Walker Ord, author of A History of Cleveland:

John Walker Ord

John Walker Ord was the son of Richard Ord (1783-1879), a tanner and leather merchant, prominent in the public life of Guisborough, whose obituary in the Whitby Gazette records

The deceased whilst in the prime of life took a great interest in everything relating to the welfare of the town – was connected with nearly every public body in the district, and for over twenty years was vice-chairman of the Guisborough Guardians.  In politics he was a Liberal, and was a great support to the local party in the stirring times of the reform agitation.  

Richard Ord (1783-1879)

Richard Ord's wife was Ann Walker, whose great grandmother was the Dame Walker who is said to have taught Captain James Cook to read as a boy.

At least, that's what his obituary says but my Australian contact has pointed out :

I know that the obituary of Richard Ord states he married Ann Walker, the great great granddaughter of Dame Walker however her name was Ann Ovington and Richard and Ann were married 20 Jun 1805, her parents were William Ovington and mother Elizabeth Wood. Ann's grandparents were William Ovington Snr and Ann Walker the daughter of Dame Walker.

Another of their sons was Richard Ord junior (1807-77).  He was a currier and leather-seller, for many years an Alderman of Stockton and Mayor of the town in 1865.  Although of retiring disposition and having suffered some ill health he was a justice of the peace until his death.  He died at his home in Bowesfield Lane in October 1877.

Richard Ord jnr (1807-77)

The photographs show that Richard Ord senior was a keen supporter of cricket in Guisborough.  He he is (back, right) with the Cricket Team:

Guisborough Cricket Team

Richard Ord Todd on the Isle of Man and in Australia

A glimpse of life on the Isle of Man in the 1880s.  Private theatricals were evidently all the rage!

You may remember from the photograph in the last post, that Richard Ord Todd as a youth had delicate features – so it seems he was ideally suited to be put into dresses:

Here he's on the left, beside Henry VIII:

In this one, featuring Britannia, Mary Queen of Scots and various assorted others, Richard is on the left next to the headsman and his sister Annie Elizabeth is second from the right in the front row:

And here is Richard with the football team, looking dapper in their hooped jerseys. Richard is top left and next to him is his cousin, Herbert William Quiggin:

Soccer team, 1880s, Isle of Man

Herbert was born in 1866 in Douglas and died in 1900 in Winnipeg, Canada.  He was the son of Richard's aunt Margaret Todd (1835-87) who married her Manx cousin William Thomas Quiggin in 1864.  I understand that William Thomas Quiggin and his brother Edward Todd Quiggin ran the family business, timber merchants & rope manufacturers in Douglas.  Apparently William left the business and then left his wife and three small boys to go to Canada with the family maid; he died in Ottawa.

Richard Ord Todd left the Isle of Man and went out to New South Wales on the Orizaba in 1887.

He married Frances Pym Stevens (1866-1959), eldest daughter of John Harry Stevens and Rosetta Pym on 1 January 1895 in Marrickville, NSW.  They had four children, Charles, Ruth, Stella and Geoffrey.  

His aunt Isabella was evidently living with the family at the end of her life because the notice in the Sydney Morning Herald of her death in 1907 shows that she was with them in their home at 376 Crown Street, Sydney.

Not long after his marriage, Richard's life took another surprising turn.  In his mid-thirties he left banking for the Church and in June 1901 he was admitted to the priesthood of the Church of England.  

He was successively curate of Christ Church, Enmore; Rector of SS Simon & Jude, Surry Hills; Rector of St Stephen's Church, Lidcombe; and assistant chaplain at the Anglican cemetery, Rookwood.

Here he is graduating from Moore Theological College in about 1901 (he is bottom left):

Richard Ord Todd graduating from Moore Theological College, c1901

The family of the Revd Thomas Todd, Rector of Kildale

In February 2013 I mentioned the family of the Revd Thomas Todd, Rector of Kildale, and his wife Elizabeth Jackson.  She was born in Wilton, the eldest daughter of George Jackson of Lackenby and his wife Margaret Rowland.

Widowed at the age of 52, Elizabeth left Cleveland to join her married daughter Margaret on the Isle of Man.  She was accompanied by her two unmarried daughters, Isabella and Rhoda, and the infant motherless children of her eldest son, Edward.

Isabella and her nephew Richard Ord Todd both emigrated to Australia, and it's from there that I have been very glad to receive a selection of Todd family photographs taken in Yorkshire, the Isle of Man and Australia.  They came to my correspondent via her mother from the last survivor of the Todds there.

Here is Mrs Elizabeth Todd, in her new life on the Isle of Man:

Mrs Elizabeth Todd 1808-79

And here is her daughter Isabella.  She went out to Australia as a governess in 1880, a few years after this photo was taken:

Isabella Mary Todd 1837-1907

Here is her younger sister Rhoda.  She was the principal of the Cleveland Private School at Douglas, IoM, and this photograph shows her looking appropriately scholarly:

Rhoda Anne Todd 1839-1927

I think that these two girls, photographed at the studio of G. Wallis, Union Place, Whitby, look very like Isabella and Rhoda, but I leave it to readers to judge for themselves:

My Australian contact points out that they can't be - the photo must date from after 1860 and they would be older than that.  But they certainly look like Todds!

Their eldest brother Edward Todd was a chemist & druggist.  On 17 October 1861 he married Elizabeth Mary Poynter (1841-66) in Guisborough.  She died on 2 July 1866 leaving Edward with a two-year-old daughter and a three-month-old boy, Annie and Richard.

Here are Edward and Elizabeth in happier days:

Edward Todd and his wife Elizabeth Poynter

Edward must have found himself unable to manage with his little children and so entrusted them to the care of his widowed mother and spinster sisters.

I think the photograph below must have been taken after Elizabeth's death.  Certainly Edward looks more careworn here, and he is accompanied not by his young wife, but by his dog.  Perhaps his mother wanted a photograph of him to take with her when she left for the Isle of Man with his little children:

Edward Todd 1834-1916

Ten years after Elizabeth's death, Edward remarried in Wolverhampton.  He and his wife Margaret Griffiths had two children, Frederick John Todd (1878-1939)and Elizabeth Margaret Todd (1881-1950).

His first son, Richard Ord Todd, became a bank clerk.  Here he is, photographed as a young man on the Isle of Man:

Richard Ord Todd 1866-1953

Alfred Edwin Sadler of Sadler & Co, Middlesbrough and Ulverston

Here, with very many thanks to Ian Stubbs, who contacted me to offer the use of the photographs on his flickr stream, are pictures of the Sadler family memorial in the churchyard at St Cuthbert's, Ormesby.

This side of the obelisk commemorates Alfred:

Also

Alfred Edwin Sadler J.P.

of Sandhall, Ulverston

brother of 

Sir S.A. Sadler J.P. D.L.

born 28th August 1857

died 24th April 1922

Ian's flickr stream is a must!  Especially if you are researching family from the North East and you can't easily get here, look and see if he has a picture for you.
 
For example: if you missed the WWI exhibition at the Dorman Museum, don't panic - you can read the beautifully-done information panels here from Ian's photos.

Alfred Edwin Sadler, manufacturing chemist of Ulverston

John Lamb of Ulverston has asked me if I have any information on Alfred Sadler, son of Samuel Sadler.  Alfred, who once owned John's house in Ulverston, Cumbria, ran a tar works in Ulverston.

I will set down below the details about Alfred that I have found in a quick search, but John is particularly interested in the history of the Ulverston works.

Anyone who has any information – and particularly pictures – of the Ulverston works of Sadler & Co, please contact John!

His email address is martinhd581@gmail.com

Yorkshire Evening Post & Leeds Intelligencer 

16 April 1922

News was received at Ulverston yesterday of the death in a nursing home at Stokesley, Yorkshire, of Mr Alfred Edwin Sadler, principal of the firm of Sadler & Co Ltd., chemical manufacturers, of Ulverston and Middlesbrough.  For 45 years Mr Sadler had been prominently identified with the industrial, social, and political life of Ulverston.  He was a well-known Freemason, and was Assistant Prov. G.M. of the province of West Lancaster, and was keenly interested in Masonic charities.  Mr Sadler was also a staunch Unionist, was unmarried, and was 65 years of age. 

28 April 1922

The presence of upwards of a hundred workmen who had walked in drenching rain from Middlesbrough to Ormesby Churchyard yesterday to attend the funeral of the late Mr Alfred Edwin Sadler, was evidence of the esteem in which that gentleman was held on Teesside and in Cleveland.  The service was conducted by the Rev. J C C Kemm.  The coffin was borne to the graveside by foremen from the works of Messrs Sadler and Co. Ltd, Middlesbrough, etc.  The principal mourners were Mr C J Sadler (chairman of Messrs Sadler and Co), Mr S A Sadler (managing director), Mrs S A Sadler, Mr Basil Sadler, Col H Sadler, Mr C N Sadler, Mr Alex. Sadler, Mr and Mrs A W Field, Mr Frank Cooper (representing Mrs Gloag), Mr Douglas Cooper, Mrs Gjers, Mr John Gjers, and Sister Jefferies. Sir John Fry, Bart. and Mr R H Wilson, directors of the company, as well as the chief officials, were present, as well as a large and representative gathering of Freemasons. 

19 July 1922

Mr Alfred Edwin Sadler, of Sand Hall, Ulverston, principal of the firm of Messrs Sadler and Co (Ltd), chemical manufacturers, of Ulverston and Middlesbroiugh (net personalty £7,253) - £7,963 

Days of plenty in Redcar: a middle class household before the First World War

In old age, Mrs Katharine Isobel Ellis Hill (1905-2005) looked back to the golden times before the First World War broke out ... when she lived with her parents and her brothers in the little hamlet then called Nunthorpe Station, and they went to visit her father's parents in Coatham ...

Her memory of the end of those happy times was very vivid and painful:

King's Head, Newton-under-Roseberry

On Aug 4th 1914 my godmother had a picnic for the young people staying with her & about 12 of us walked 3 miles across the fields, climbed Roseberry, had tea at the King's Head & walked 3 miles back.  

As I ran across the last field & the others went away I crossed the road & saw my father in his Territorial Uniform (khaki) vanish round a bend on his motor bike – I called after him but he did not hear – 

I rushed into the house & asked why? & someone said, 

"There's a war with Germany, so be a good girl."   

I never see that corner of the road without seeing my father on his way to Ypres & the Somme.  7 weeks later Duncan was dead; our house was closed for the duration & I was parted from all my little friends, pets, the garden (& all sense of security forever) & the servants who were old friends.

Katharine's brother, Duncan Stubbs

(Her father's account of the day is here and an account of the death of her brother Duncan is here.)

But to return to life before the War ... 

Katharine looked back across the decades to meals at her grandparents' house, 7 Trafalgar Terrace, Coatham.

7 Trafalgar Terrace, Coatham, in 1904

Her grandfather John Richard Stubbs, had grown up with the open hospitality of his mother and her neighbours in Boroughbridge.

Her grandmother Ellis Macfarlane grew up on the west coast of Scotland, in Helensburgh.  Her father Duncan Macfarlane was a Canada merchant; her mother Mary (also a Macfarlane) was the "lovely little girl" mentioned in Three Nights in Perthshire; with the description of the Festival of a 'Scotch Hairst Kirn' (1821).

This little book, several times reprinted, recounts the author's visit to Mary's childhood home – Ledard, "a large, beautiful farm-house" near the head of Loch Ard.

Mary's father, Donald Macfarlane, had himself taken the great Sir Walter Scott to inspect the nearby waterfall, which Scott described to great dramatic effect in Waverley and Rob Roy.

(Sir Walter hasn't been in fashion in England for many years – this post on Louis Stott's literary blog will put you in the picture).

The book describes the harvest festivities, with plentiful accounts of the food and drink:

sweet and ewe milk cheese, some of the delicious trout for which the neighbouring lochs are famous, basons of curds, with bowls of sour and sweet cream, and piles of crispy oatcakes, together with rolls and butter. 

So we can imagine that, with that sort of family background, food played a significant part in John and Ellis Stubbs' daily life.